The Opening Ceremony will welcome the Carters to the Bay Area and launch the 30th annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. It will showcase and celebrate the vibrancy and spirit of Oakland as Carter Work Project participants and the general community come together in enthusiastic anticipation of the build week ahead.

Beloved Oakland personalities Renel Brooks-Moon and Mark Curry will serve as the Mistress and Master of Ceremonies. Nationally-renowned musicians and entertainers, who call Oakland and the Bay Area home, will offer cameo performances. Performers include En Vogue, Tajai, Miko Marks, and the Iron Triangle Urban Ballet. President and Mrs. Carter will attend and speak.

The event will take place at the Paramount Theatre, originally built as a movie palace in 1931, now a National Historic Landmark, and one of the finest remaining examples of Art Deco design in the United States.

Ticket information: Tickets are available at $35, $75, $100, and $150 and are sold through the Paramount Box Office (no convenience fee) and Ticketmaster.

Additional Information: Dress is business casual. Paid parking is available in nearby lots or on street. Venue is located one block from the 19th Street BART station. Food and beverage is available for purchase in the venue lobby prior to program and during intermission.

Featuring Performances By:

Renel Brooks-Moon

Renel was born in Oakland and raised throughout the Bay Area and is a graduate of Mills College in Oakland. Renel's early broadcasting experiences with KCBS and KFRC led to her breakthrough in 1986 as an on-air personality on 106 KMEL, where she is best remembered as part of the popular “Morning Zoo.” Since 1997, she has been host of the morning show on 98.1 KISS-FM. In 2000, Renel was honored to be chosen as the Public Address Announcer for the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park (then Pacific Bell Park). Renel’s work in the booth has been recognized by the Major League Baseball (MLB) Hall of Fame as the first female announcer of a championship game in any professional sport. Renel became the first woman ever to public address an MLB annual All-Star Game and an MLB World Series Championship. March 18th, 2005, was proclaimed “Renel Brooks-Moon Day” in San Francisco by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who honored Renel for her 20 years as a Bay Area media personality and her community activism.

Mark Curry

Mark Curry is an actor, comedian, and host. He is best known as the star of the ABC sitcom Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, in which he played the lead role of Mark Cooper, an NBA player-turned-substitute teacher/gym coach. He is also one of the various hosts of the syndicated series It's Showtime at the Apollo. Mark Curry's first role was in the film Talkin' Dirty After Dark, alongside Martin Lawrence in 1991. Curry appeared in The Jamie Foxx Show, in Living Single in 1994, in Martin in 1997, in the Drew Carey Show in 2000, and in the films Switchback and Armageddon in 1998. Curry currently stars in Nick At Nite's See Dad Run as Scott Baio's best friend Marcus. Mark Curry was born in Oakland, California as the youngest child out of nine. He attended St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda and California State University, East Bay in Hayward.

En Vogue

The name En Vogue invokes memories of a long line of red-hot R&B and pop smashes recorded in the 1990s. Fusing style, sophistication, and sass, En Vogue has sold over eight million albums. While En Vogue may have been trendsetters for those who followed them, While the group received comparisons to The Supremes, they also set a standard for female R&B and pop acts who followed them. Although they embarked on their musical journey nearly 20-years ago, En Vogue’s appeal is greater than ever before. From performing at the NFL Superbowls to The Kentucky Derby, the ladies keep adding unique and global projects to their already impressive resume.

Tajai

Tajai Massey, known by the stage name, Tajai, is a rapper and producer. Born in Stanford, Tajai moved with his family to Oakland when he was two years old. In elementary school, Tajai began his nascent rap career in elementary school and formed Souls of Mischief with friends in highschool. In 1995, Tajai and the Souls of Mischief were incorporated into the Hieroglyphics, an Oakland-based alternate hip hop collective that combines an offbeat sensibility with a strong grounding in battle rhyming, freestyling, and other hip-hop traditions. Tajai graduated from Stanford University in 1997 with a degree in anthropology.

Miko Marks

People Magazine once named her one of "Nashville's Hottest New Country Stars," while New Music Weekly named her “Best New Country Artist.” Ebony Magazine crowned her "The Storyteller," an artist "Breaking the Sound Barriers." No doubt Miko Marks is a maverick that has blazed an unprecedented trail in Country Music. Named "Best New Country Artist" by New Music Weekly, Miko’s debut album, "Freeway Bound," received top honors as the "Country Album of the Year" at The Independent Music Awards. Miko has made an indelible impact as the only African American female in the history of country music to receive such lofty honors.

Iron Triangle Urban Ballet

For over 40 years, more than 50,000 student artists from all walks of life have shared a place where they have found within themselves the means to develop skills that enable them to think, lead, and contribute to the world around them. The East Bay Center for the Performing Arts is a surprising place of discovery, located in Richmond’s Iron Triangle, a neighborhood distinguished primarily for its chronic poverty and violence. Here student artists discover how training in the arts can and does illuminate their fullest capacity as human beings. The Iron Triangle Urban Ballet is a resident company of the Center, where members receive training in modern hip-hop, classical ballet, jazz dance, modern dance, and classical African dance.